At the start of Luke Cage‘s 11th episode, “Now You’re Mine,” the villains Hernan “Shades” Alvarez (Theo Rossi) and Willis “Diamondback” Stryker (Erik LaRay Harvey) have a heart to heart amidst the wreckage of Harlem’s Paradise. Cage (Mike Colter) is on the loose somewhere in the club, protesters trapped inside have now become hostages, and the police are on their way. Shades isn’t particularly fond of the situation and thinks everyone should bail, but Diamondback — who only just entered the picture three episodes prior — won’t budge. For reasons unknown to Shades and somewhat understood by the audience, he won’t rest until both Cage and his cop friend, Misty Knight (Simone Missick) are dead.

“With them dead, we control the story,” Diamondback explains. “The bigger the stall, the more time we have for other diversions. Misty will be dead, I’ll have another shot at Cage, and there’s bound to be another way out of here. We’ll cross that bridge soon enough.”

Unimpressed, Shades quips, “That’s your plan? That’s it?”

The playful (but serious) animosity expressed between the two speaks volumes about their relationship. After all, Diamondback serves as Luke Cage‘s Thanos-like big bad, pulling the strings throughout the first half and ultimately showing up to do it himself. And Shades? Considering just how often he coerces individuals and manipulates events throughout all 13 episodes to serve the whims of Diamondback, Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali) and Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard), he’s more like Loki’s string-puller (or as Rossi explains to us, the Marvel/Netflix world’s closest equivalent to Game of Thrones‘ Littlefinger).

However, this scene (and others like it) also demonstrates what the Marvel/Netflix partnership has accomplished that — aside from a handful of examples — its cinematic forebears never could: The creation and execution of complex, well-rounded villains whose individual story arcs are almost as complete as their heroic rivals. David Tennant’s Kilgrave achieved a horrifying version of this in Jessica Jones, and if Rossi and Harvey’s performances alongside Ali and Woodard are any indication, so too has Luke Cage.

Good article, but it focuses on the wrong duo. Shades and Diamondback were the two weakest aspects of the show. Neither of them are as grounded as Mariah or Cottonmouth, and as a result, their machinations aren’t nearly as provocative (or entertaining). The focus on Diamondback, in particularly, is jarring, as in the second half, the show gravitates away from what made it particularly good in the first half, which is this story being told in the larger concept of the community of Harlem.

Mentioned this in other articles as well. Its not that the actors are miscast (although some of the mannerisms and dialogue by Diamonback is confounding at times), its just that they do not hold the same level of gravitas that Cottonmouth and Mariah have. It’s bascially how you end up with a B+/A- first seven episodes and C+/- last six episodes which is jarring for viewers (especially given how bad the finale was and the amount of filler in those last six episodes).

Totally agree, Juice was a disastrous bit of casting, he’s just totally unconvincing. He was OK as the runt of the SOA llitter, but he’s laughable in Luke Cage. I’m about 9 episodes in, and really struggling to finish it. It’s so overwrought and serious and BORING. And by all accounts, it gets worse.

Only 6 episodes in? Well get ready, because Shades is about to stop being the low point of the season.

I don’t understand how you start with Cottonmouth and Mariah and end up with Shades and Diamondback. It’s like they were given a year to write the script and in month 11 they realized they had only written 7 episodes. The last 4 episodes, while not terrible or bad judged on their own merits, are horrific compared to the first 6 episodes of the season.

They really should have spread the Cottonmouth/Mariah/Shades interaction across the entire season. They tried to compress their storylines to the point that by the time they get around to exploring their backgrounds it feels rushed, forced, and then quickly basically irrelevant. Cottonmouth could have easily grown into a Tony Soprano like character, flawed and conflicted, forced into a role and life that he didn’t necessarily choose but seems to excel at. Actually trying to do the right things through the wrong means. Maybe even envious of Luke who “lucked” into being the neighborhood-saving hero that he aspired to be.
Mariah got a little more room to breathe but her moods and motivations were so all-over-the-map that she often didn’t come off very well.
Shades also suffered from the compressed story-line as he was never really able to be subtle and just basically showed up once or twice an episode to bluntly push the other characters instead of working as the power-behind-the-throne guy they seemed to be going for.

I thought Luke Cage was the weakest of the three Marvel Netflix offerings thus far but it still had plenty of merit. Maybe I’m biased because I think Erik LaRay Harvey is dope but I really enjoyed Diamondback. I liked how they kept him an offscreen presence the first half although his introduction was pretty weird. Since when does the behind-the-scenes mastermind start letting off shots in the streets and blowing up ambulances? Cottonmouth was awesome, just like how bummed I was when Wesley bought it in Daredevil I was really disappointed they killed him off so abruptly and quickly but I geuss understand the reasoning behind it, further Mariah’s character arc and all that. Alfre Woodard is a legend. There was definitely an undeniable discrepancy between the first and second halves though. Mike Colter did a good job but I still think he was miscast. The girl who played Misty stole his spotlight most of the time. Didn’t hurt she was thick AF. I never watched Sons of Anarchy but that guy who played Shades is a shitty actor.

I might be alone here but I like Diamondback, he was genuinely menacing. The villains from the shows (Kingpin, Killgrave and Cottonmouth) have far outstripped anyone from the movies not named Loki, that’s for damn sure.